Conscience and the
Light of the World
– See How
it All Connects through Science and Religion:

Albert Einstein said:

"Science without
Religion is lame, and Religion without Science is blind";
this means we need both science and religion to understand
ourselves and Reality.

In this statement: "God is
Light; in Him there is no Darkness at all" (1John1:5) we find the New Testament
is pointing to the world of Quantum
Physics, i.e. sub-atomic particles and [the speed of] light that is
linked and shaped by the state of our own consciousness. That
consciousness has an inherent relationship with God (Light-Love-Law) and
it is by this consciousness we find our conscience.

The scientist, Dr
Albert Hofman said: "Consciousness
is Gods’ gift to mankind”: It is by consciousness we exist, but it
is by CONSCIENCE we survive collectively and have worth
individually. Conscience is a necessary ingredient to humankind
either way–for
our continued progress. The great American Revolutionary
and Forefather George Washington called it the "little spark of
celestial fire." Power-packed indeed.

So how does that little
spark of celestial fire–conscience–translate itself in the world?

Metaphysically:
Conscience is the Light in our soul; and literally closes
the gap between Heaven and Earth

Spirituality:
Conscience is awareness of our Oneness and Interconnectedness with
each other and all things; It allows us to see what is meant by:
"Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself" and to be kind to all beings

Life Experience:
Conscience is the
stuff of Bravery and Nobility – it has a backbone and an honor

Who You Are:
With the fundamental basis of Reality being Light-Love-Law – conscience is the Real You–

No justification or
rationalization required!

The Authentic
Religion: Standing in the
Light of your own conscience you command with God [Love-Light-Law].

It is said: "We
should pray as if everything depends on God and work as if everything
depends on us." This means that Peace is not Possible without
Justice. If we want Peace, then we must work for Justice which is
the heart of conscience.

Justice (which is
the product of conscience) often means
rebellion or disobedience to authoritarianism

Martin Luther King said in his Letter from
Birmingham City Jail: "A just law is a man-made code that
squares with the moral law; St. Augustine said: "An
unjust law is no law at all"; and the poet Henry David Thoreau
said: If... the
machine of government... is of such a nature that it requires you to be
the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law";
This all means we can't be human without
conscience which is why we find people who stand with their conscience
at all costs. The moral of the story: It is worth being
human in a human world. If we want to fine tune it further, we can
also say: "It is worth being human FOR a human world."

U.S. Soldier Tells Truth in Iraq

"It's Not About Patriotism and Honor, It's About
Profiteering and Money"

They ended up removing
this video so you wouldn't hear the truth. They are definitely
afraid of the truth. We are searching to see if we can
find this video. Come back and see if we have it ....
it is definitely worth it. In the meantime, check out:
http://www.planetization.org/iraqtruth.htm

“To those who
have called me a coward I say that they are wrong, and that without
knowing it, they are also right. They are wrong when they think that I
left the war for fear of being killed. I admit that fear was there, but
there was also the fear of killing innocent people, the fear of putting
myself in a position where to survive means to kill, there was the fear
of losing my soul in the process of saving my body, the fear of losing
myself to my daughter, to the people who love me, to the man I used to
be, the man I wanted to be. I was afraid of waking up one morning to
realize my humanity had abandoned me.”

—Sgt. Camilo
Mejia

* * *

“War is the
greatest form of wrong. I believe that my moral obligation to humanity
is to not allow myself to be a part of this destruction. …

“Why do we want
to train the young people in the world that the only way we can settle
our differences is to kill one another? Why shouldn't we train them to
become surgeons or homebuilders? Why shouldn't we train to become
anything but killers? I think that the world would be better off if we
were to do that instead. I have talked to veterans from every war from
WWII on and their opinion is that the wars they fought were to be the
last war ever fought. How many more are we going to fight before we
realize that the act of war is for small minded people that are intent
in only satisfying their own needs and not the needs of the people in
general? I do not want to be killed because I am living in a place that
has a ruler that wants to go to war with any one.

“The only way to
bring peace to the world is to let the people of the world decide for
themselves what they want to spend their efforts on. I feel that in this
day and age governments start wars, and not people, and since the
governments want the wars then why don't we let the government fight the
war? All of the politicians that want to fight a war are free to trade
places with me at any time. I will gladly go and learn war no more.

“There are
activities that I have been involved in that have led me to these new
and developed beliefs, and they are numerous but I can tell you some of
them. When you walk in the woods and you see a deer stand and look at
you, or you are on the river in the morning and the mist rises off the
water while you hear the morning calls of the river birds, and the
otters just lie there as you glide past in your boat and don't even
move, you know that there is a better way. When you can find solitude
in the woods that are so filled with peace and the wildlife that is all
around you, you feel the better way all around. A person must
acknowledge the fact the we are a part of the universe and the universe
does not want to be out of sorts with itself, so why do we spend so much
effort on trying to be out of sorts with others of the human race?”

“I refuse to be silent any longer. I refuse to watch families torn
apart,
while the President tells us to “stay the course.” … I refuse to be
party to an illegal and immoral war against people who did nothing to deserve
our aggression. I wanted to be there for my fellow troops. But the
best way was not to help drop artillery and cause more death and destruction.
It is to help oppose this war and end it so that all soldiers can come home.”
-U.S. Army First Lieutenant Ehren Watada

Family, Friends, Members of the Religious Community, Members of the
Press, and my fellow Americans—thank you for coming today. My name
is Ehren Watada. I am a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army and I have
served for 3 years.

It is my duty as a commissioned officer of the United States Army to
speak out against grave injustices. My moral and legal obligation
is to the Constitution and not those who would issue unlawful orders.
I stand before you today because it is my job to serve and protect those
soldiers, the American people, and innocent Iraqis with no voice.

It is my conclusion as an officer of the Armed Forces that the war in
Iraq is not only morally wrong but a horrible breach of American law.
Although I have tried to resign out of protest, I am forced to
participate in a war that is manifestly illegal. As the order to take
part in an illegal act is ultimately unlawful as well, I must as an
officer of honor and integrity refuse that order.

The war in Iraq violates our democratic system of checks and balances.
It usurps international treaties and conventions that by virtue of the
Constitution become American law. The wholesale slaughter and
mistreatment of the Iraqi people with only limited accountability is not
only a terrible moral injustice, but a contradiction to the Army’s own
Law of Land Warfare. My participation would make me party to war crimes.

Normally, those in the military have allowed others to speak for them
and act on their behalf. That time has come to an end. I have
appealed to my commanders to see the larger issues of our actions. But
justice has not been forthcoming. My oath of office is to protect and
defend America’s laws and its people. By refusing unlawful orders for an
illegal war, I fulfill that oath today.

THIS
SUNDAY IS Mother's Day. Restaurants are already booked for brunches and
dinners. The flower, candy and card industries await their annual spike
in sales.

This is
soooo 20th century. The women who conceived Mother's Day would be
bewildered by our rituals. They would expect us to be marching in the
streets, not honored for our individual sacrifices.

That's
because the idea of a mother's day began with women's public activism.
In 1858, Anna Reeve Jarvis, a young Appalachian homemaker, organized
Mothers' (not Mother's) Work Days in West Virginia to improve the
sanitation and decrease the deaths caused by polluted water.

In 1872,
Julia Ward Howe, author of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic," proposed
an annual Mothers' Day for Peace. Horrified by the casualties of the
American Civil and Franco-Prussian wars, Howe asked, "Why do not the
mothers of mankind interfere in these matters to prevent the waste of
that human life of which they alone bear and know the cost?"

For the
next 30 years, Americans celebrated Mothers' Day for Peace on June 2. In
1907, Anna Jarvis, the daughter of the original West Virginian
organizer, launched
a campaign to establish a national Mother's Day. Heavily lobbied by the
flower and card industries, Congress declared in 1914 that Mother's Day
would be celebrated on the second Sunday in May.

But the
holiday did not last as a day to promote peace. The growing consumer
culture gradually redefined Mother's Day as a celebration of each
woman's private sacrifices. As the Florists' Review, a trade journal, so
bluntly put it, "This was a holiday that could be exploited."

And so
it was. The embryonic advertising industry taught Americans how to honor
their mothers -- by buying flowers. Outraged by florists, who sold each
carnation for the exorbitant price of $1, Anna Jarvis tried to fight
against those who "would undermine Mother's Day with their greed."

Clearly,
she failed. But growing numbers of women have been resurrecting her
mother's 19th-century vision of Mother's Day. On Sunday, in Washington
and 15 other American cities, thousands of women are holding peace
rallies and parades. In Albuquerque, Boulder, Cincinnati and Los
Angeles, for example, "Mothers Acting Up" have organized events to
promote peaceful solutions to conflict.

Closer
to home, women in the Bay Area are sponsoring two Mother's Day peace
celebrations, both meant to entertain and engage the entire family. On
Saturday, dozens of interfaith, peace and justice organizations are
sponsoring a "Mother's Day Speak-up for Peace" event at 1 p.m. in
Lindley Meadow, in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.

Between
1 and 3 p.m. on Sunday, at Berkeley's Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial
Park (at Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Center Street), folksinger Betsy
Rose will be joined by musicians and poets, followed by prayers and
reflections for peace.

In
addition to promoting peace, some women activists are using Mother's Day
as an occasion to publicize the fact that our nation reveres the idea of
motherhood more than actual mothers.

According to Save the Children's annual index, which measures the well-being of mothers and children, the U.S. ranks 11th among 117 other
countries. We may be a military superpower, but we resemble a developing
nation when it comes to providing mothers with child care, job training,
health care, an adequate minimum wage and paid parental leave.

Nineteenth-century women dared to dream of a day that encourages women
to use their influence to promote peace. At the dawn of a new century,
we can best honor their vision with our own civic engagement and
activism. For Bay Area Mother's Day information:
www.unitedforpeace.org/ and
www.peacehost.net/EPI-Calc/